The nation’s largest RN organization today welcomed a statement by Sen. Bernie Sanders honoring America’s nurses on Nurses Week for “all you do every day of the year to care for and save the lives of patients” and for “speaking out for health and safety beyond the bedside” notably in campaigning for “guaranteed healthcare through an improved Medicare for all single payer healthcare system.”

National Nurses United also welcomed Sanders endorsement of the California Drug Price Relief Act, a major initiative on the California November ballot that would limit how much drug company giants could charge for prescription drugs in cases where state taxpayers are the ultimate payer.

“While Congress has failed to stand up to the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, the people of California can by supporting this ballot initiative,” said Sanders in a statement today. The initiative is backed by a coalition that includes NNU and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

In a speech earlier today in Stockton, Ca., Sanders noted that the top three drug companies made $45 billion in profits last year. “No doubt they will be spending some of it in California. Don’t listen to them.”

“Nurses understand the devastating impact of drug company price gouging on our patients,” said California Nurses Association/NNU co-president Zenei Cortez, RN. “We see patients who have to cut their pills in half, or take them every other day, or who decide not to fill prescriptions ordered by their doctor because of the high cost.”

“Bernie Sanders support for the Drug Price Relief Act is yet the latest signal of how Bernie Sanders shares nurses values, and is the strongest, most consistent voice for patients and families. We will never stop fighting for our patients, and for Bernie,” said Cortez.

In his statement for Nurses Week released today Sanders wrote:

“We honor you on Nurses Week for all you do every day of the year, on every shift, nights and weekends, to care for, and save the lives of patients.

“We honor you for being first responders in an emergency, for sacrificing time away from your families to care for others.

“We honor you for advocating for your patients at times your hospital administrators and insurance companies want you to deny or limit care because it doesn’t fit into their budget.

“We honor you for speaking out for health and safety beyond the bedside. 

“We honor you for demanding that everyone is entitled to healthcare as a right, not based on their ability to pay, their age, race, gender, ethnicity, or where they live. For never stopping your campaign for guaranteed healthcare through an improved Medicare for all single payer healthcare system. 

“We honor you for recognizing that public policy affects everyone’s health, for supporting changes in priorities that leave too many suffering from hunger, poverty, unsafe housing, and exposure to pollution that threatens their health.

“America must honor you as well.

"We must honor you by demanding that we support your right to guaranteed sick leave, family medical and maternity leave, safer workplaces, and quality healthcare for your families, and the right to retire in dignity. 

“And America must honor you by supporting your right to form unions and bargain collectively for yourselves, your colleagues, and your patients, free of intimidation and coercion.

“Nurses, we honor you, and I will stand with you always.”

Senator Bernie Sanders